This last weekend saw the arrival of the Dragon Ball FighterZ closed beta and WTF?... Before I get into that, let me just say: the game is awesome! So, what’s with the WTF you ask? Well of the 12 hours the beta was open for, I managed to only get into one online match and even that was after about 6 minutes of matchmaking time. Well if you only got into one match, how did you spend the rest of the beta, you might ask. Simple, while servers were unresponsive and not allowing me into the online lobbies I got to, thankfully, participate in trial matches against the CPU. This is where I spent roughly 4 of my 7 hours of time with the beta. As for the rest of the time, I was either trying to get into the lobby or waiting fruitlessly in matchmaking. Now don’t get me wrong, this was a beta, things aren’t supposed to work completely. But, I did expect to spend a LITTLE more time playing online matches.

OK, now that I ranted about the lackluster servers, let’s talk about what’s most important here, gameplay! I have not had this much fun in a fighting game since I played Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 back in the arcades. What made this game so fun to me was the pure approachability of it. Combos and special moves are simple to execute, most just involving quarter circle turns forward or back plus any other button. While more complex moves do exist, the simplicity of the basic fighting mechanics will ensure anyone can pick up the game and feel awesome about kicking an opponent through a mountain! Matches are played out between two teams of three and there was a good variety available in the beta. Unfortunately, the trial fights selected random characters for you so I never got to figure out my perfect dream team.

Presentation is the final key to this awesome formula. Graphics look like they are straight out of the never DBZ movies. Each character looks and feels just like you would expect. The truly jaw dropping part of the presentation is delivered by the moves themselves. Everything from a simple Ki attack to earth cracking explosions looks so epic I can’t get enough! This also allows the game to look way more interesting than other fighting games I have played. While this was only a beta, there are still things to improve, like character balance and server issues. With there being quite some time between now and the games 2018 release, I am confident these will be ironed out from the data collected this weekend. The team at Bandai Namco have done well to craft an amazing fighter based off one of the greatest Animes of all time! Did you get a chance to play Dragon Ball FighterZ this weekend? Let us know in the comments below!

Ryan started out playing games on his fathers Atari 2600 and has been playing games ever since. Favorite franchises include Command & Conquer, Ace Combat, Metal Gear and Halo. Ryan likes to keep up with all current and retro gaming news and trends. You can follow Ryan on Twitch, YouTube, and Twitter.